Papal visit to Saskatchewan: difficulty in finding participants

The City of Quebec and its surroundings are not the only ones in full preparation for the arrival of Pope Francis, since the sovereign pontiff is also expected in Saskatchewan, but the Archdiocese of Regina seems to be having difficulty rallying the survivors of the First Nations to this visit.

Papal visit to Saskatchewan: difficulty in finding participants

The City of Quebec and its surroundings are not the only ones in full preparation for the arrival of Pope Francis, since the sovereign pontiff is also expected in Saskatchewan, but the Archdiocese of Regina seems to be having difficulty rallying the survivors of the First Nations to this visit.

The archdiocese had appealed to survivors several weeks ago to participate in the pope's visit scheduled for July 24-26 in Edmonton.

A team has therefore been set up to draw up a list of possible indigenous participants, but the response is far less than expected, Global News reported Thursday.

“We provisionally have three buses ready to go, which represents up to 150 people,” Archbishop Don Bolen told the media. "It doesn't look like we'll have that many survivors."

According to him, several factors explain the lack of enthusiasm for the project, in particular because some have expressed their lack of interest in the event.

“I understand that there are tensions, differences of opinion, within First Nations communities, about apologies, and it makes sense that there are,” Bishop Bolen said. "So we're just trying to make an offer to those who would like to attend or be associated with the event."

Other dioceses in the province and Indigenous organizations have not yet announced arrangements for the event, but announcements are expected to be made shortly, according to the Archbishop.

Remember that Pope Francis is also expected on July 28 at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica, where 1,400 seats are reserved inside and 10,000 seats are available outside.

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